Category Archives: This Week from California History

December 9

Monterey Bay.

Exploration in 1595Sebastian Rodriguez Cermeño, Portuguese explorer for the Spanish king, reached Monterey Bay. He searched the California coast for safe harbors for Spanish galleons returning to Mexico from the Philippines.

Overland trail in 1846Patrick Breen, traveling with the Donner Party, wrote in his diary: “Commenced snowing about 11 o’clock. Wind N.W. Snows fast. Took in Spitzer yesterday; [he is] so weak that he cannot rise without help, caused by starveation. All in good health. Some having scant supply of beef. Stanton trying to make a raise of some for his Indians & self. Not likely to get much.”

James Marshall standing in front of Sutter’s Mill.

Gold Rush in 1848The New York Daily Tribune first published news of the gold discovery at Sutter’s Mill.

Business in 1941Bank of America opened a new headquarters in San Francisco.

Bank of America.

Business in 1968Douglas Engelbart, Internet pioneer at Stanford Research Institute, demonstrated the computer mouse, hypertext and the bit-mapped graphical user interface using the oN-Line System (NLS). That became known as “The Mother of All Demos.”

Douglas Engelbart and the first computer mouse.

Sea Knight helicopter.

Accidents in 1999 A CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter crashed while ferrying troops between ships off Point Loma, killing seven Marines.

Business in 2008 Gavin Newsom, San Francisco mayor, announced $71 million in cuts to the city’s budget, eliminating jobs of nearly 400 people.

Business in 2010Bank of America agreed to pay $137 million to settle federal and California state bid-rigging and kickback charges related to municipal bond contracts dating back to 1998.

Bank of America.

Moody in 2010 James Moody, jazz musician, died in San Diego at age 85. His recorded more than 50 albums.

Tyler Brehm.

Crime in 2011 Tyler Brehm was shot and killed in Los Angeles after walking down the middle of Sunset Boulevard firing on motorists. John Atterberry, music executive, died from wounds suffered in Brehm’s shooting.

December 10

Exploration in 1827Jedediah Smith, hunter, fur trader and explorer who charted the first overland routes to California, was told to leave Alta California by Mexican authorities.

Jedediah Smith crossing the Mojave by Frederick Remington

Margaret and Patrick Breen

Overland trail in 1846Patrick Breen, traveling with the Donner Party, wrote in his diary: “Snowed fast all night with heavy squalls of wind. Continues still to snow. The sun peeping through the clouds once in about three hours. Very difficult to get wood today. Now, about 2 o’clock, looks likely to continue snowing. Don’t know the depth of the snow; may be 7 feet.”

Flight in 1911Calbraith Perry Rogers crashed again. He flew the first transcontinental airplane flight, taking 52 days with dozens of intentional and accidental stops. He died a few months later in a crash at an exhibition over Long Beach.

Caithbridge Perry Rodgers

Flight in 1930 Ruth Nichols set a women’s record for coast to coast flight; from Los Angeles to New York in 13 hours 22 minutes. She beat her own record – 16 hours, 59 minutes and 30 seconds – set in November on her flight west.

Flight in 1941A Pan American Airways Clipper plane landed at the San Francisco Treasure Island seaplane harbor with bullet holes from Japanese guns at Wake Island on December 7.

Crime in 1960 The San Francisco Chronicle reported that illegal alcohol, known as bok chow, was being made in Chinatown. Ingredients included an Asian fertilizer with a pickled chicken, bear claws, monkey paws, lizard or snake and spices. One raid netted 22 gallons.

Nobel Prize Medal.

Nobel Prize in 1972 Kenneth Arrow, of Stanford University, shared the Nobel Prize in economics with John Hicks of Oxford, England.

Wood in 1978 Ed Wood, film director, died in North Hollywood at age 53. His films included “Plan 9 From Outer Space” (1959). He was famous for making bad movies.

Nobel Prize Medal.

Nobel Prize in 1980 Czeslaw Milosz, U.C. Berkeley professor, poet, prose writer, translator and diplomat born in Lithuania, received the Nobel Prize in literature. Miłosz is honoured at Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, as one of the “Righteous among the Nations”.

Gosden in 1982Freeman Gosden, actor, died in Los Angeles at age 83. He was best known as the white actor who played Amos in the “Amos ‘n’ Andy” radio shows from 1928 to 1960.

Golden State Transportation.

Crime in 2001 Federal authorities charged Golden State Transportation, a Los Angeles-based bus company, with illegally transporting thousands of undocumented immigrants from near the U.S.-Mexico border.

Football in 2005 Reggie Bush, University of Southern California running back, won the Heisman Trophy.

Pryor in 2005 Richard Pryor, comedian, actor, film director, social critic, satirist, writer and MC, died in Encino at age 65. He is best known for “Silver Streak” (1976), “Stir Crazy” (1980) and “Richard Pryor Live on the Sunset Strip” (1982). Pryor won an Emmy Award (1973) and five Grammy Awards (1974, 1975, 1976, 1981, and 1982).

John Perez.

Government in 2009 The California Democratic Caucus selected John Perez, an openly gay Latino from Los Angeles as their leader.

Protests in 2009 San Francisco police arrested 25 protesters a day after students barricaded themselves inside the business school of San Francisco State University to protest fee hikes and budget cuts at the state’s public universities.

San Francisco State University protest (2009).

Transportation in 2009 BART directors approved a 3.2 mile extension to the Oakland Airport. $440 million in contracts were approved with a target completion date of 2013.

BART map.

Google.

Business in 2012Google, in Mountain View, began selling basic laptop computers to schools at a price of $99.

December 11

Environment in 1932San Francisco recorded a temperature of 27°F, its coldest day ever and it snowed.

Snow in San Francisco (1887)

War in 1941Western Defense Command declared San Francisco and the West Coast a wartime “Western Theatre of Operations.” No private vessels were allowed to sail at night in the San Francisco Bay.

Sports in 1947The Pacific Coast League application for a change from minor league to major league status was rejected.

Pacific Coast League (1950s).

Stanford University.

Science in 1952 Stanford scientists demonstrated the new $1,750,000 linear electron accelerator. Its 200-foot barrel fired electrons at 99.99% the speed of light.

Business in 1962 The L’Italia building in San Francisco was demolished. It housed the largest Italian language newspaper outside of New York, La Voce Popolo, founded in 1868.

La Voce Popolo.

Cooke in 1965 Sam Cooke, soulful singer-songwriter, was shot to death by a motel manager in Los Angeles. He is remembered for “You Send Me” (1957), “Wonderful World” (1960) and “Cupid” (1961).

Television in 1968KECC-TV, now KECY, began broadcasting, the third station in the El Centro market.

Hollywood in 1970 Walt Disney Productions released “Aristocats.” It was the 20th feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series and the last film approved by Walt Disney, himself.

Bank of America.

Business in 2002 Bank of America, in San Francisco, agreed to pay $1.6 billion for a 25% stake in Grupo Financiero Santander Serfin, one of Mexico’s largest banks.

Football in 2004 Matt Leinart, University of Southern California quarterback, won the 70th Heisman Trophy.

Matt Leinart.

Business in 2005Paramount Pictures, in Los Angeles, announced it was buying independent film studio DreamWorks, in Los Angeles. The deal was valued at approximately $1.6 billion.

DreamWorks.

Environment in 2008 California’s air quality board approved the nation’s most sweeping plan to reduce global warming by curbing emissions.

California air basin map.

Bettie Page.

Page in 2008 Bettie Page, the “Queen of Pinups,” died in Los Angeles at age 85. Her controversial photographs helped set the stage for the 1960s sexual revolution.

Shankar in 2012 Ravi Shankar, India-born sitar virtuoso, died in San Diego at age 92. He is best known for performing with The Beatles.

December 12

Santa Barbara presidio chapel.

Missions in 1797The Santa Barbara presidio chapel was dedicated. More than 1,000 Chumash people would be baptized there.

Inventions in 1876Elizabeth Keeney of San Francisco patented improved luggage. “My invention relates, essentially, to a fold ing receptacle or satchel for articles most needed in traveling, so divided into four or more distinct compartments that each class of wearing apparel or dressing requirements may readily come to hand without any disarrangement of the balance. My invention consists, mainly, of a novel and compact arrangement of the various pockets or receptacles of the satchel.”

Long Beach boardwalk (circa 1911)

Long Beach in 1897Long Beach, in Los Angeles County, incorporated. Today it is the seventh largest in city in California and the 36th largest in the U.S.

Business in 1906Pacific Fruit Express Co., in Roseville, formed a railroad refrigerator car leasing company. Between its partnership with Union Pacific and Southern Pacific railroads, it had 6,600 refrigerator cars.

Pacific Fruit Express.

Motel in 1925Arthur Heinman coined the term motel – a motor hotel – when he opened the Motel Inn in San Luis Obispo.

Motel Inn postcard.

Fairbanks in 1939Douglas Fairbanks, screenwriter, director, and producer, died in Santa Monica at age 56. He is best known for roles in silent films; “The Mark of Zorro” (1920), “Robin Hood” (1922) and “The Thief of Bagdad” (1924).

Flight in 1953 Chuck Yeager reached Mach 2.43, or 1620 mph, in the Bell X-1A rocket plane. He flew from Murac Army Airfield near Palmdale The X-1 was the first manned airplane to exceed the speed of sound in level flight.

Chuck Yeager and the X-1

San Diego Padres.

Sports in 1973San Diego filed an anti-trust suit against National League to stop the Padres from moving to Washington D.C.

Crime in 1975 Sara Jane Moore pleaded guilty to attempting to kill President Gerald Ford in San Francisco the previous September.

Business in 1996Michael Ovitz, Hollywood power broker, was forced out as Walt Disney Company’s No. 2 executive. He left with a severance package valued at $38 million in cash and an estimated $100 million in stock.

The Walt Disney Company.

Jewish Defense League.

Crime in 2001 Los Angeles police arrested Irving Rubin and Earl Krugel, of the Jewish Defense League, for plotting to blow up a local mosque and the office of an Arab-American congressman.

Protests in 2003 People protested the repeal of a California law that permitted illegal immigrants to get driver’s licenses. They took to the streets and boycotted schools and businesses statewide.

Protesters in San Rafael (2003).

Crime in 2005 Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger refused to block the execution of Stanley Tookie Williams. The governor did not believe the founder of the Crips found redemption on death row.

Business in 2005Adobe Systems, in San Jose, acquired Macromedia, in San Francisco, in a stock swap valued at some $3.4 billion.

Adobe Systems.

Igor Olenikoff.

Crime in 2007Igor Olenicoff, billionaire real estate developer, pleaded guilty to lying on his tax returns. He paid $52 million in back taxes and penalties, one of the largest individual tax cases in Southern California.

Crime in 2007 Police arrested Art Cheney, nicknamed “The Highway 101 Bandit,” following his robbery of a Fairfield bank. He robbed at least 17 banks, including at least eight in the Bay Area near Highway 101.

Art Cheney.

Protests in 2009 Berkeley police arrested eight people after a crowd of angry protesters broke windows and threw burning torches at the campus residence of U.C. chancellor Robert Birgeneau.

Campus residence of U.C. chancellor Robert Birgeneau (2009 ).

Crime in 2010Long Beach police officers shot Doug Zerby some dozen times as he manipulated a pistol grip water nozzle. Prosecutors said police acted lawfully in killing Zerby, who was drunk at the time.

Protests in 2011 Some 3,000 Occupy protesters shut down the Port of Oakland.

Crime in 2012 Darcey Greenfield, former Los Angeles police officer, was arrested for swindling people out of some $3 million in a real estate investment scam.

December 13

Business in 1841John Sutter purchased Fort Ross from the Russian American Fur Company for $30,000 on credit. He acquired materials and implements for Sutter’s Fort, including a small brass field howitzer that became known as the “Sutter Gun”.

Watercolour of Fort Ross by I.G. Voznesenskii (1841)Source: Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, St.Petersburg

Overland trail in 1844The Stephens-Townsend-Murphy Party, ten families, reached Sutter’s Fort. They left Council Bluffs, Iowa on May 22, 1844 and were the first wagon train to cross the Sierra Nevada.

Wagon Train.

Margaret and Patrick Breen

Overland trail in 1846Patrick Breen, traveling with the Donner Party, wrote in his diary, “Snows faster than any previous day. Wind N.W. Stanton & Graves with several others making preparations to cross the Mountains on snow shoes. Snow 8 feet deep on the level. Dull.”

Railroads in 1867The Central Pacific Railroad construction reached the Nevada border. It started in Sacramento on January 8, 1863.

Briones in 1889Juana Briones de Miranda, born into an early California family, died in San Francisco at age 87. After leaving her soldier-husband, she became a pioneer settler of Yerba Buena, raised eight children, including an orphaned Indian girl. She farmed the area today called Washington Square.

Los Angeles (1944).

Weather in 1944 Los Angeles recorded a record low temperature, 28°F. The record high, 92°F, was in 1938.

Weather in 1967 Snow fell in San Diego after temperatures plunged 19 degrees in eight hours.

Snow in San Diego (1967).

Larkspur Landing.

Ferries in 1976 The Golden Gate Bridge District expanded ferry service from San Francisco to Larkspur Landing.

Radio in 1983 KYA-AM in San Francisco changed its call letters to KOIT. The station, which began in 1926, has had 14 owners and four different callsigns in 85 years.

Museums in 1997 A ribbon-cutting ceremony opened the $1 billion Getty Center in Los Angeles, one of the largest arts centers in the United States.

Bayview-Hunters Point.

Fires in 1997 A Bayview-Hunters Point housing project fire, started by a cigarette, killed six people. The San Francisco Housing Authority was found negligent for not installing a smoke detector or fixing a faulty heater. It paid a $13.5 million judgement.

Religion in 2002Monsignor Ignatius Wang became an auxiliary bishop of the San Francisco Archdiocese, the first U.S. bishop of Asian ancestry.

Google.

Business in 2004 Google, in Mountain View, announced plans to digitally scan book collections of five major libraries that agreed to permit access to books published before 1900.

Oracle logo.

Business in 2004 Oracle Corp., in Redwood City, raised its takeover bid for rival PeopleSoft Inc. by 10 percent. The $10.3 billion deal created the world’s second largest maker of business applications software.

Crime in 2008 A woman in Richmond was jumped, taunted for being a lesbian, raped, and left naked outside an abandoned apartment building. Police arrested two men and two teens in January on suspicion of the gang-rape.

Kamala Harris.

Government in 2011 Kamala Harris, Attorney General, announced a new unit devoted to prosecuting high-tech crimes. Each year over 1 million Californians were said to be victims of identity theft, with losses of over $46 million in 2010.

Government in 2012 Walgeen Co. was ordered to pay $16.57 million to California government and environmental agencies to settle claims of dumping hazardous wastes.

December 14

Ohlone Indians drawn by Louis Choris (1816)

Missions in 1793Mission Santa Cruz was attacked and partially burned by Quiroste warriors, Ohlone people from a village near Año Nuevo.

Missions in 1817Mission Saint Rafael was founded when Padre Vicente de Sarría said mass at the 20th of 21 missions. It served as a hospital for sick native people from Mission Dolores. Twenty-six people were baptized the first day.

Pirates in 1818Hypolite Bouchard and his pirates attacked Mission San Juan Capistrano. They burned the king’s storehouse, soldiers barracks and the governor’s house.

Accidents in 1963Baldwin Hills Reservoir in Los Angeles, built above an active fault line, broke open. In three hours 250 million gallons of water flooded the surrounding neighborhood, destroying 277 homes and killing five people.

Accidents in 1971The lights were out all night on the Golden Gate Bridge due to a power failure.

Edward Hagedorn, “The Rainbow” (circa 1930).

Hagedorn in 1982Edward Hagedorn, graphic artist, born in San Francisco, died in Berkeley at age 80. His work included, “Self Portrait with Cigarette” (circa 1930), “The Rainbow” (circa 1930) and “Sword Swallower” (circa 1936).

Crime in 1994Bruce McNall, former owner of the Los Angeles Kings hockey team, pleaded guilty to fraud and went to prison for four years.

Public health in 1995Jeff Getty, AIDS patient in San Francisco, received the first bone-marrow transplant from a baboon. Animal rights activists criticized the experimental procedure. The transplant failed, but Getty survived.

Peanuts.

Peanuts in 1999Charles Schultz, creator of the Peanuts cartoon, announced he would retire. The final original Peanuts cartoon appeared on Feb 13, 2000.

Mission Viejo.

Accidents in 1999 A main water pipeline In Mission Viejo ruptured, cutting supplies to 14 Orange County communities.

Business in 2005Walt Disney Co., in Burbank, announced its first film production in China. It wanted to break into the Chinese entertainment market.

Business in 2006Cisco Systems Inc., in San Jose, announced a $50 million investment in China Communications Services Corporation Ltd.. That made it the largest foreign investor in CCS.

Mike Evans as Lionel Jefferson on “All in the Family.”

Evans in 2006Mike Evans, actor, died in Twentynine Palms at age 57. He is best known as Lionel Jefferson on “All in the Family” and for co-creating “Good Times.”

Crime in 2007Maria Borrega, a former ticket agent for the Contra Costa County public transit system was charged with embezzling some $184,000.

Science in 2009Researchers from U.C. Santa Barbara and the University of Michigan published a study describing synthetic red blood cells capable of delivering medicine, oxygen or MRI contrast agents throughout the body.

Crime in 2010A mother was killed at a south Sacramento strip mall while helping her 2-year-old son into their car during a gun battle that wounded six others.

Plastic bag litter.

Government in 2010San Jose adopted the strictest ban on plastic bags in the state.

Crime in 2012The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency charged over 24 people in San Diego with smuggling drugs into California from Mexico. The bust netted over 1,000 pouns of methamphetamine, 200 pounds of cocaine and 28 pound of heroin.

December 15

Overland trail in 1846Baylis Williams, one of the men working for James Reed, died, probably of malnutrition.

San Jose

Government in 1849The first California legislature met in San Jose. Sixteen Senators and 36 Assemblymen planned to attend but because of heavy rains, the roads were so muddy that only six Senators and 14 Assemblymen were present.

Libraries in 1858Marysville Public Library received a donation of books, bookcases, maps, pictures, mineralogical and cabinet specimens. New books had to be shipped by sea around the Horn, so the library depended on gifts.

Golden Eagle Hotel, Marysville (1856)

Newspapers in 1858S.G. Whipple began publishing The Northern Californian in Union.

Charles Bowles, also known as Black Bart.

Crime in 1881Charles Bowles, English born gentleman bandit known as Black Bart, left poems at the scenes of his crime. He held up Wells Fargo Stagecoaches 28 times. The 19th was four miles east of Dobbins in Yuba County.

Hotels in 1909 The Palace Hotel reopened. The most modern hotel on the West Coast survived the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake but was gutted by the fire.

Accidents in 1933Lloyd Evans became the first worker on the San Francisco Bay Bridge to die. He was working 112 feet under water on the bay bottom and experienced decompression sickness. An 11-hour effort to revive him in a recompression chamber failed.

San Francisco Bay Bridge construction (1933 – 1936).

Disney in 1966Walt Disney, cartoonist, film maker and businessman who changed the face of entertainment, died in Burbank at age 65.

Sports in 1974Catfish Hunter, Oakland A’s pitcher, won a contract dispute to become a free agent. With the A’s, he pitched four consecutive years with at least 20 wins and four World Series wins without a loss.

Sports in 1977 Charles Finley sold his Oakland A’s to Marvin Davis for a reported $12.5 million.

Sports in 1997The San Francisco 49ers retired Joe Montana’s jersey #16. Montana, as quarterback, lead them to four Super Bowl victories.

Prisons in 2006 A federal judge declared California’s execution procedure unconstitutional, extending the state’s execution moratorium. California held some 650 inmates on death row, the most in the U.S.

Google.

Business in 2007Google, in Mountain View, was reportedly testing a new service called Knol. It enlisted users to write about human knowledge in competition with Wikipedia.

Government in 2008 California Senator Diane Feinstein became chairwoman of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee.

Roberts in 2009 Oral Roberts, pioneer televangelist and founder of the Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, died in Newport Beach at age 91. He began broadcasting revivals on television in 1954 and later founded Oral Roberts University.

Edwards in 2010 Blake Edwards, film director, died in Santa Monica at age 88. His films include “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” (1961) and the “Pink Panther” series, which started in 1963.

Barry Bonds, San Francisco Giants

Sports in 2011Barry Bonds was sentenced to 30 days of house arrest, two years of probation and 250 hours of community service. He was convicted of obstructing justice during a grand jury appearance in 2003.

December 16

Sebastian Vizcaino drawn by Barron Park School students

Exploration in 1602Sebastian Vizcaino named Monterey Bay. The conquistador who sailed from New Spain (Mexico) to the Philippines was searching for safe harbors for Spanish galleons returning from the Philippines.

Overland trail in 1846Patrick Breen, traveling with the Donner Party, wrote in his diary, “Fair & pleasant. Froze hard last night. & the company started on snow shoes to cross the mountains. Wind S.E. Looks pleasant.” The “company” was 17 of the strongest emigrants, with six days’ rations. The snowshoers were called the “Forlorn Hope”.

Garden Valley.

Post offices in 1852A U.S. post office opened in Garden Valley near Coloma. It closed in 1853, re-opened in 1854, then closed in 1862, re-opened in 1872 but closed in 1895 then re-opened in 1896 and moved 1/4 mile away in 1940.

Government in 1983A judge in Riverside denied cerebral palsy victim Elizabeth Bouvia request to starve herself to death in a county hospital.

James in 1988Sylvester James, disco superstar born in Watts, died in San Francisco of AIDS-related causes at age 41.

Business in 1996Intel, in Santa Clara, announced development of the world’s fastest computer, capable of 1 trillion operations per second.

Intel logo (1968-2005).

Madlyn Rhue.

Rhue in 2003Madlyn Rhue, actress, died in Los Angeles at age 68. She is remembered for roles in “Operation Petticoat” (1959), “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” (1963) and Star Trek episode “Space Seed” (1967).

Business in 2005Google, in Mountain View, announced it would pay $1 billion for a 5% stake in AOL.

Google.

Bottoms in 2008 Sam Bottoms, film and television actor and producer, born in Santa Barbara, died in Los Angeles at age 53. He is remembered for roles in “The Last Picture Show” (1971), “The Outlaw Josey Wales” (1976) and “Apocalypse Now” (1979).

Government in 2009San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom struck a deal with the U.S. Navy to acquire Treasure Island for a guaranteed payment of $55 million over several years.

The Walt Disney Company.

Disney in 2009Roy Disney, Walt Disney’s nephew, died in Burbank at age 78. He oversaw creation of Disney World.

Government in 2010The California Air Resources Board approved the nation’s first broad-based program to put a cap on green house gas emissions.

California air basin map.

Rohayent Gomez.

Crime in 2010Rohayent Gomez, age 13, was shot and paralyzed by a Los Angeles police officer as the boy held a replica gun. A jury ordered the LAPD to pay $24 million to Gomez in 2012.

Business in 2011Zynga, a digital game company in San Francisco, went public for $10 a share, valuing the company at $1 billion. It created Farmville.